Jim Holt

When you decide which agent you're going to sell with, you'll sign an agreement with them (every home seller does). This is known as a "listing agreement,” and it's exclusive to you and your agent. The length of this agreement is usually ~6 months but is negotiable.

The listing agreement does not include an option to cancel, which makes it difficult (and uncomfortable) to fire your agent if you feel like they’re not doing their job. This means that as long as your house sells, your agent gets paid, no matter what price it sells for and how long it takes. Some agents will take advantage of this by overpromising and moving on to get the next sale.

Part of our vetting process is requiring every agent who joins our network to allow you to cancel the agreement at any time, no questions asked. This means that when you sell with a SoldNest agent, you get a local expert who is motivated to put in their maximum effort and make you a top priority, 100% guaranteed.

A home seller pays a commission to their agent as well as the buyer’s agent. If the seller’s agent also represents the buyer, they get both commissions. Unfortunately, there are numerous tactics that are used by agents to help them increase their chances of doing this, without their clients ever knowing.

In many cases, this hurts the seller because their agent is no longer allowed to negotiate for them. The agent must remain neutral to the buyer and seller, which often results in a better deal for the buyer (and more commission for the agent).

While there are certain situations where it can make sense for an agent to represent both parties, an above-average percentage of these transactions shows that an agent prioritizes their commission over a seller’s best interests.

When an agent applies to join our network, we analyze their sales history to see how many of these transactions they have compared to other top-producing agents in their county. The agents with a disturbing percentage are not allowed to join, while the agents with a low percentage are eligible and must stay within our requirements to remain in our network. These are the agents who have a long-standing track record that shows they put their clients’ interests first.

The sold to list price ratio is the agent’s average sale price divided by their average list price. For example, if an agent has an average sale price of $1,100,000 and an average list price of $1,000,000, then their sold to list price ratio would be 110%.

While a higher number might seem better, that’s not always the case. This is because some agents will intentionally underprice the homes they sell for their benefit. They do this so that after they make a sale, they can market the sold listing in the neighborhood that says something like, “Just sold for $XXX,XXX over the list price!”

Similar to how an overpriced listing can hurt the seller, a property that is underpriced can also work against the seller because some buyers won’t pay a certain amount or percentage over the “asking” price, no matter how low it’s priced.

Part of our vetting process includes looking at the agent’s sold to list price ratio over the last 3 years and comparing it to other agents in their county. If an agent’s ratio is above or below the ideal range, we do not allow them to join our network because this tells us that they have a track record of intentionally over or underpricing the homes they sell. The agents who fall within the ideal percentage range are the ones who are eligible to become SoldNest Verified, because these are the agents who have a proven track record of setting a competitive list price.

From real estate market trends to negotiating to vetting a buyer, numerous things can have a big impact on the outcome of your home sale. This is why an agent with recent experience is the bare minimum you need in an agent.

The first step of our screening process is to ensure the agent is within the top 20% of properties sold in their county over the last three years (we do not include their buying transactions). The agents who qualify and are able to pass our full vetting process must remain in the top 20% in order to stay in our network. This ensures you find a local expert who has the recent selling experience that you need.

Part of our vetting process includes analyzing online reviews of the agents who apply to join our network. Although we do consider their overall rating, we put a higher priority on the verbiage that seller clients use when describing their experience.

The number of reviews displayed is the total number we’ve analyzed from all of the big review sites – and the rating is the average star rating from those same sites.

In addition to collecting feedback from sellers who we refer to agents in our network, we continuously analyze their reviews from other sites to ensure they maintain our minimum requirements.